Samsung Reportedly Gives Up on Super Thin Smartphones Amid Low Sales

[Unregistered 4U]

I checked out the Air, after seeing some reviewers rave about the weight, but the 13 mini is lighter. I haven’t seen anyone with a mini (albeit there aren’t that many left) who is impressed with the Air

To be fair, though, anyone with a mini is perennially unimpressed with everything.

And, just thinking about Apple pulling out a slimmed down 17 inch laptop, that would have been world breaking news at the time, especially if it only took a minimal hit to the battery as a result. Super large, super light? I don’t think we’ve matched that today!

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Surprised to say that so far, I have actually found the iPhone Air to be the best iPhone in years for my use. When I looked at all the models, the low weight to large screen ratio is what got me to purchase. The battery will be a concern (I travel for work), but honestly so far I havent come close to depleting it in a day yet. I dont watch a lot of video in my daily use so maybe that is my saving grace.

There’s hardware in the phone that improves the efficiency of watching video. The greater draw is likely to be playing games with high screen brightness. So, if you haven’t depleted the battery in a day yet, you likely won’t even if you decide to splurge and watch a movie or a few episodes of something.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Apples response was just to leave stuff off it to make it thin.

It may have sold out in china but the air will be a 2 year wonder like the mini I think with a diehard fan base on here.

That’s the thing, even though Samsung shipped first, Apple had been planning this for years. It wasn’t a response, it was an intentional design process to release an iPhone that’s thinner than last year’s iPhone, lower battery capacity, but same 27 hour battery life. Samsung’s response, once they learned Apple was planning to ship a thin phone, was to quickly take the same phone and remove battery capacity.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

The pursuit of thinness probably was a big driving force in many of the improvements in components and engineering. But you will hit the wall soon (physics?) and everything after that will we just combinations of compromise here and there. And you see this in the products no matter how marketing presents it.

I think this is a great point. Companies COULD just put in larger batteries if they decided to repurpose technology from 5 years ago. But the amazing performance we’re seeing from mobile phones is because of the steady push towards thinner more efficient devices. Putting forth the effort yields technical advancement across the industry. A thin phone existing today means a more performant more efficient, more feature loaded thicker phone in the future.

 

[TVreporter]

Don’t these companies do surveys before launching new products? Surely they determined there was enough interest in a thinner device to make it profitable?

I’d much prefer a specced-out phone the size of the 5s! Get to it Tim!

 

[aevan]

Apple has Apple Sheeple. People who lap up their products. I would not be surprised that the people buying the Air are "influencers" mainly.. but who knows.. time will tell

Maybe you can dislike a product without insulting people who do? One of my close friends who is also an incredible artist and an amazing human being loves his Air. I like it too, a lot, despite going for the Pro. But sure, we're "sheeple" because you said so. God forbid one likes Apple products.

 

[bviktor]

(psst) Make something small ... i.e. "sized for normal hands" and you'll have a buyer in me!

Psst they tried that TWICE with the 12 Mini and 13 Mini. Both failed miserably commercially.

 

[acorntoy]

Psst they tried that TWICE with the 12 Mini and 13 Mini. Both failed miserably commercially.

It is not a winnable battle. Studies show both old and young usually prefer larger screens/ young for entertainment reasons old for medical reasons. Sales of devices have confirmed this.
Large companies like Apple have tried and failed to sell the small phone (as you pointed out).
Kudos to them however they are an aggressive minority and despite the evidence won't give up their belief that if somebody makes a new small phone it'll be the one that magically sells and will start the march to small phones again.

 

[Marty80]

I am just the one person in a zillion that cannot part with a pro max for an air. Much like i am struggling to part my Macbook Pro to a Macbook Air.

I however like the iPhone Air’s design better the polished titanium frame & and the glass camera plateau at the back.

To make matters more worse over at Apple Insider they are putting a damp cover over my cosmic organic pro max.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...iphone-17-pro-allegedly-changes-color-to-pink

 

[poi ran]

Maybe this explains why I could buy my S25 Edge cheaper than regular S25. The S25+ I actually see no point with...the S25 is small and fast, the S25 Ultra is bigger and has better camera, the S25+ ? And future S26+ ? The S25 Edge is a much better addition to the S-series IMHO, unless you really neeed all the battery you can get. I rarely charge above 85% anyway and battery is rarely an issue.

I hope the iPhone Air is a success, that might persuade others to go for thinner and lighter phones.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Don’t these companies do surveys before launching new products? Surely they determined there was enough interest in a thinner device to make it profitable?

I’d much prefer a specced-out phone the size of the 5s! Get to it Tim!

Samsung? NOOOO, they just try to find out what Apple’s doing then do that. They just figured that if Apple thinks iPhone people want it, then Android people must want something like that, too!